The new year dawned upon us, and January and February passed rapidly
away. The popularity of the Mexican Commandante, Telles, was waning
fast. A number of his own officers had pronounced against him--but this,
with a few effective followers, was speedily put down, and the leader
shot. However, a strong force from Culiacan was raised by the powerful
family of Vegas, the legitimate Governor of Sonora--and from whom Telles
had wrested the command of Mazatlan--in conjunction with a body of three
hundred troops, under one Romero, from the opposite extreme of the
province Tepic, and resolved to gain the ascendancy by destroying our
blockaders. Upon the approach of these bodies, Telles' troops refused to
fight against their countrymen, and nothing was left for their old
captain but to succumb to circumstances; these ups and downs, however,
being not uncommon in Mexico, the chagrin attending the disgrace is not
taken seriously to heart. After a week's intrigue and negociations,
finding his enemies implacable, he resigned his authority, was then
betrayed, arrested, sent to Guadalajara under a guard, where he shortly
afterwards expired. His case excited much sympathy, for he bore the
reputation of being brave and generous, lavishing all he received upon
the treacherous friends about him, who flattered and cheated, until
adversity stalked in, when away flew the gay birds who had made him
their prey. One of these gentry did me the honor to present himself late
one night at the Carita, claiming parole as a deserter from the
Mexicans. He had been chief of the staff and cavalry, bore the name of
_compadre_,--adviser and rascal-in-general to Telles--but having had the
sagacity to cram his filthy pockets with fifty thousand wheels of
fortune, of course had no further wish to remain. He pointed out all the
weak positions, avenues of attack, and general information concerning
the force of the outsiders--more, I was convinced, to vent his spite on
those whom he had already betrayed, than from regard to us. On parting,
the gallant major favored me with a note of introduction to one of his
lady-loves, coming from the interior, and remarked, with a pecuniary
sigh, that when commanding my little post he never made less than a
thousand pesos a month. It was upon the Mexican system--where the strong
steal from the weak: but here was my captain of battalion, Mr. Mitch and
myself--with all the trouble of guarding, examining, quarrelling, and at
times beating, hundreds of paisanos daily, and devil the _centavo_ could
we ever extort; on the contrary, our exchequer was at a deplorably low
ebb, so much so that we were scandalously accused of playing monte for
_quartillos_--fippennybits;--and we discussed the alternative of taking
to the road, robbing a _conducta_ of mules laden with money, or
remaining in the port until peace should be declared, inciting a
pronunciamento, and declaring ourselves commandantes of the province.
The united force of the Mexicans who had assembled in Rosario, amounted
to one thousand, three hundred of which were cavalry, and seven pieces
of artillery. They talked bravely of driving the Yankees on board the
ships, and were constantly drilling and exercising their troops and
guns. Vegas' proclamations were clear and business-like; he established
an internal _duana_, or custom house; declared a specified and moderate
scale of duties--having the sense to perceive that soldiers must be fed,
and although rich himself, he had no inclination for playing commissary
at his own expense--and besought the merchants of the port to send their
merchandize to the interior. All these warlike preparations caused us
neither alarm nor trepidation. Our works were near completion, and we
had twenty-six guns mounted, besides the additional security of some
small hulks, moored at a ford of the estero, mounting a battery of
Paixhans. The garrison had been slightly increased, and, altogether, we
felt confident of holding the port against any odds. The merchants,
however, were as yet shy of trusting their valuable property within
reach of Mexican rapacity, and consequently, the troops were beginning
to find themselves somewhat embarrassed. The commanders quarrelled, and
Vegas himself, being heartily disgusted, forthwith fell back, with
troops and artillery, towards Culiacan, leaving a fourth part of his
force, under charge of Romero--a miscreant, who had the reputation of
assassinating his own colonel, at the storming of Chapultepec, for a
beltfull of doubloons. Being thus left without the means of doing us any
injury, they pursued the same annoying process as their brethren before
them, by robbing their own countrymen, under the odious alcobala.
During all this time we never for a moment ceased keeping up a rigid
discipline, and exercising the utmost vigilance; the severest punishment
was impartially meted to all offenders; and our knowledge of the
topography of the country, for some miles round, being quite equal to
the Mexicans', they had good reason to keep beyond our limits. At rare
intervals, indiscreet persons would try to run the gauntlet into town,
and one dark night, three troopers, not seeing our guard, attempted to
steal in by the beach: one was astounded, on not halting at the hail, at
receiving a bullet through the shoulder, and they then turned bridles,
leaving us a brass-bound hat and lance, as keepsakes. Indeed, once we
came nigh peppering our own patrol; fortunately, but one ball only flew
over Captain Luigi's head. It may have been a peculiarity of some of our
sailor sentinels, that, at night, they immersed themselves breast deep
in little pits, resting their muskets upon mounds of sand in front, at a
dead aim upon whoever advanced along the roads. I do not know if this
kind of tactics be tolerated by Regulation; but Jack, in his ignorance
of minute detail, had to place reliance on his eyes.
Once, after hearing the report of a musket, I inquired of the sentry the
cause. "Sir," said he, "the chap wouldn't stop, so I hailed him in the
very best Spanish, and then fired; there he lies kickin', up the road,
sir!" It turned out to be an innocent stray jackass, a bad linguist, who
could only converse in his mother tongue. However, these little
incidents convinced our neighbors that security did not throw us off our
guard.
We still worked hard at the Garita--deepening the ditch--filling up
embrasures, and raising the walls. It was fatiguing labor, for the heavy
stone had to be wheeled from the base of the hill. Already strong frames
of timber had been erected at angles in the walls, where three
twelve-pounder short guns moved on quadrants, overlooking the parapet,
and sweeping the hill in every part, while, near the centre of the
little fortress, a beautiful long brass nine traversed on a circle, that
could throw the iron messengers two miles over the plains below. The
sides of the building facing the lagoons were planked up, enclosing
spacious piazzas, and sheltering the men from nightly malaria borne
along by the land winds. The men were obliged to keep their quarters
perfectly clean, and they slept comfortably in hammocks suspended from
beams above. Everything went on regularly--they had long since given up
bad habits of drunkenness--and out of the entire company, but two drew
their allowance of spirits. Four old dames came with the early dawn,
bringing coffee and chocolate, which they exchanged for surplus rations
and the privilege of washing Jack's clothes. Liberty was occasionally
granted to visit the port, and every day two or more were gunning around
the lagoons, keeping the post supplied with quantities of delicious wild
ducks and curlew, and, when the moon was full, numbers of terrapins. We
had strict inspection, morning and evening. At nightfall, sentries were
doubled on the hill and roads--the guard set--guns primed--matches
lighted--and everything ready at a moment's notice. I am thus minute in
describing these unimportant details about the Garita, for it was my
first, and most probably, will be my last attempt at soldiership.
Besides being a great source of pride and pleasure, it was the spot
where I have passed many happy hours. Indeed, it was the only decent or
habitable post pertaining to the garrison; and I deem it not amiss to
state, that, had a twentieth portion of the quarter million of dollars
collected by us through the customs, been judiciously expended in
restoring the old Cuartel, and providing a few necessary comforts the
sailors required, it would in a measure have repaid them for toils and
hardships on ship and shore, where they were necessarily obliged to
undergo many expenses, in a service apart from the line of their duty.
And furthermore, a due regard to their personal comfort might have been
the means of reducing the medical estimates, and at the same time, of
saving many a poor fellow, whose bones now moulder beneath the sod. But
notwithstanding these drawbacks, it was gratifying to the officers who
commanded them, to know, that, even amid the novelty of their position,
they reflected credit on their country, and left an excellent impression
behind them, among the Mexicans themselves.
Many of the officers who had been detailed for service at the Garita,
were eventually obliged, on the score of health, to leave for more
healthy posts; and in the end, Mr. Mitch and myself were the only ones
left. Our quarters were immediately over the men, in a large square
apartment, the ceiling taking the angle of the roof; two balconied
windows faced the sea; another overlooked the port and estero, while a
large, roomy piazza commanded a wide and extensive view of the
surrounding plains, dotted by fields and ranches, with a high wall of
mountains in the back ground. When in the town the heat was almost
insupportable; in our _casa blanca_ it was never in the least degree
oppressive. We always slept under a blanket, in white canvas cots,
swinging from the rafters, curtained off by bunting. Bathing was our
chief delight, and the green waves well nigh broke at the base of the
hill, where we played in the foaming surf for hours each day. We had
breakfast brought from the French hotel in the town, which incident
happened about eleven o'clock, on a table screened off in the piazza.
Coffee we sipped, with a spoonful of cogniac, before the morning's bath,
to drive away the malaria. So we drank light bordeaux with the meal, and
when nice fruit passed the Garita, made a selection, in lieu of the
abolished alcobala.
Ah, dear Mitch, those were pleasant days! And do you ever recall our
pleasant little suppers by night--our cosy confabs--our sage
reflections--quiet moralizings and speculations upon the reverses of
fortune, after an interview with Don Manuel--and our schemes for reform.
Ah, my boy, those bright days have vanished. Then came the afternoon's
_pasear_, with a troop of officers, or the good hospitable merchants of
the port--showy horses, jingling trappings, coursing and capering along
the sea-road;--to the plaza again in time for music, with a bow, or
smile, as the case might be, to some gracefully-robed, tiny-footed dona;
then a few prancing _vueltitas_ to show off, around the square, when we
gave spur for dinner.
Just without the range of our guns was a ranchito, owning for its
mistress a jolly dame, named Madre Maria; it was not for her that we
occasionally extended our evening's ride, but for a half-uttered _adios!
Capitan!_ from the pearly teeth of little Juanita. I believe there never
was so much dirt and beauty combined. She was the sweetest mite
imaginable, and of a style to have destroyed Murillo's slumbers. Then
pretty Juana suffered from _calenturas_--fever and ague,--and I at times
carried a little phial of quinine, and felt Juana's pulse and temples,
but the jolly patrona would shake her head roguishly, and exclaim,
jestingly,--_No es possible, Senor Chato, sin matrimonio_--you can't
make love without marriage. _Ah! pico largo_, I would reply, _con razon,
pero llama vd el padre Molino_--certainly, so send for Father Windmill.
We had a private code of signals with Maria, to hang a "banner on the
outward walls," in shape of a white petticoat, whenever the Mexican
troops came within hail. She mortally detested them, for they made too
free with her hen-roost, and muscal bottles; and on her weekly
pilgrimages to the port, seated on a quiet mule, with pretty Juana
behind, attired in her holiday dress, and Jesusita, the youngest and
most diminutive piece of womanhood, tripping along the road beside them,
they would pay us a visit at the _casa blanca_, with some little
present, of eggs or fruit; and the brave old lady would invariably
beseech us for a loaded carbine _para fusilar los ladrones_--to shoot
the scamps. Once I saw the signal with the spyglass, and attended by a
friend rode out to the rancho; but it was a false alarm, caused by an
old white horse standing lazily behind the pickets. We found the group
of Maria and daughters washing in the lagoon, nearly all in dishabille:
Juanita with naught but a flimsy _chemisetta_, not a ceinture around the
little waist, revealing the most adorable juste-milieu form--between the
bud and the rose--with rich masses of dark hair covering her shoulders,
and rivalling in beauty the splendor of her eyes. I drove the old lady
into the pond, for which indecorous behavior she launched a calibash of
wet clothes at my head, then snatching up little Jesusa, just four years
old, I bore her to the beach for a dip in the surf. "How rich you are,"
said the little creature, as I commenced disrobing. "Why?"--"Because you
wear stockings." And this, indeed, is one of the distinctive marks of
wealth among the lower orders throughout Mexico.
It not unfrequently happened, that reports were circulated, without much
foundation, that the troops outside were about to attack the post, and
as a consequence the timid farmers living in the environs became
alarmed, and would send their families to seek shelter within the fort.
At times we would be gratified with fifty or sixty women and children
visitors, huddled together quite contented and merry about the piazzas.
They had learned to place full reliance upon their invaders, and
whatever course we adopted was looked upon as the only correct and
proper mode of acting. While testing the range of our guns one morning,
a carronade was accidentally discharged, and a stand of grape-shot
struck the lagoon below, dashing a shower of spray over a group of old
crones washing on the banks. I immediately ran down to see if they were
wounded, but I found them quite cool, and even surprised that I should
have surmised such a thing. "Why?" said I. _Porque, Capitan, usted es
capaz para qualquiera cosa_--because you Yankees have sense for
everything.
On Sundays our receptions were more select; then the elite of Mazatlan
extended their promenades around the works of the garrison, and would be
induced to ascend the hill, and sip dulces or _italia_ at our quarters
in the casa blanca. The gentlemen would glance over the newspapers
detailing revolutions or pronunciamentos in the interior, when casting
up their eyes, with a simultaneous puff of cigar smoke, would
exclaim--_Ay! pobre Mexico!_ and one had the sense to observe, that the
war was death to Mexicans, but life to Mexico. But of one fact no logic
could convince them--that our worthy collector of the Duana returned all
he received to the government--so wonderful a dispensation, that an
honest _administrador_ could be found in any position was entirely
beyond their comprehension. The ladies were generally very curious and
inquisitive, and after affording all the information we possessed,
relating to domestic economy and dress, once a pair of lovely senoras,
after mature reflection, apparently having made up their minds, favored
me in this strain: "Without doubt, you North Americans are very good
people, and you don't beat your wives; but then you don't know how to
lavish money on ladies like our own countrymen!" But I interposed--"We
feel obliged to pay our debts, and then pleasure afterwards." "_Bah que
importa_," said they; "all we know is, that where you Yankees give a
dollar, our people shower gold."